Traditionally, solders - a general term for alloys useful for joining metals together by the process of soldering--have been used to electrically join conductors to themselves and to semi-conductors. The principal types of solder conventionally known are soft solders such as lead-tin alloys; and brazing solders such as alloys of copper and zinc and sometimes silver. Representative of conventionally known solders and soldering techniques are U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,144 describing a low melting point brazing alloy; U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,956 describing a method of chemically bonding metals to refractory oxide ceramics; U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,714 disclosing a hard solder alloy comprising copper, titanium, aluminum, and vanadium; U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,240 revealing a method for intermetallic diffusion bonding of piezo-electric components; U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,761 identifying a brazing process for forming strong joints between metals and ceramics while limiting the brazing temperature to not more than 750.degree. C.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,099 describing a method for adhesion of oxide type ceramics and copper or a copper alloy. More recent attempts to refine techniques for lowering the resistance of electrical contacts between superconductive materials include annealing bulk scintered samples of yttrium-barium-copper oxide at temperatures up to 500.degree. C. for an hour [Superconductor News, May-June, 1988, page 5]; and the use of laser energy to deposit a thin film of superconductive yttrium-barium-copper oxide directly onto a silicon substrate [Superconductor News, May-June, 1988, page 1]. All of these methods require either extreme temperatures or sophisticated equipment.
In comparison, adhesives and general bonding compositions especially for joining matter which is not electrically conductive in any meaningful degree generally do not employ metallic alloys at all. Rather, most conventional adhesives are not metallic alloy compositions at all; instead, adhesives typically are formulated as alkali-metal silicates, acrylate and cyanoacrylate esters, epoxides and epoxys of varying formulation, and the traditional gum-based adhesives such as rubber cement. Clearly, the technology and research interest of adhesives of varying formulation and composition is intense; and the chemical industry is heavily invested both economically and technically in producing many different adhesives and bonding agents suitable for a variety of different purposes and applications.
Noteworthy, however, is the recurring difficulty of bonding non-conductive, synthetic materials such as the various plastics, fluorochlorocarbon compositions such as Teflon, and materials such as glass. Although specialty formulations for bonding these various synthetic materials are available, these remain difficult substances to bond to themselves or to other materials, be they electrically conducting or not. Accordingly, it will be recognized and appreciated by ordinary practitioners that were a metallic alloy formulation to become available which could effectively join and bond non-conductive materials to themselves or to electrically conductive matter, such an improvement would be recognized as providing a major advance and benefit in the pertinent art.